German area given 'Hitler' name on Google Maps, company apologizes

Associated Press

Posted:
01/10/2014 08:05:48 AM PST

Updated:
01/10/2014 10:07:53 AM PST

A screenshot made on January 10, 2014 from Google Maps Website shows an online map of Berlin with Theodor Heuss Plazt Square resulting of a search of its its Nazi-era name "Adolf Hitler". Google apologised after the Nazi leader's name was visible on the map for a few hours, and corrected it. AFP PHOTO / GOOGLE MAPS (-)

Google spokeswoman Lena Wagner said the Mountain View company quickly took down the name after the error was discovered. The intersection was relabeled with its proper name, Theodor-Heuss-Platz, after West Germany's first post-World War II president.

In a statement, Google said edits submitted by users of its Map Maker function "are reviewed either by the community of mapping volunteers or Google moderators."

"In this particular case, the change in the street name was mistakenly approved, and we fixed it as soon as we were made aware," it added. "We apologize for any offense caused."

The erroneous name was visible only for a few hours late Thursday.

Scores of streets and squares were named after Hitler during his 1933-1945 dictatorship.

The intersection in question, in western Berlin, sits on what the Nazis envisioned as the capital's main east-west axis for a redesign of the city that was never completed.